Bridge under construction
by CradleRock
Summary: (renamed) A prequel, end of 3rd grade. Spinelli's big brother Joey returns after 3 years *chapter 3 up*
1. Gain a daughter, lose a son

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Recess characters. However, I made up some characters in Joey's extended family. (Joey himself is mentioned in a few episodes by Spinelli, but never shown.)  
  
Other disclaimer: I'm not American, and my mother tongue isn't English either. I don't know what exactly Juvenile Hall or Boot Camp are. I hope not too many errors crept into my story.  
  
I. Gain a daughter, lose a son  
  
Free. After three years in Juvenile Hall and several weeks in Boot Camp I'm waiting for my parents to take me back home. No, that's wrong, it will be Flo and Bob Spinelli taking me to their place where I'll live with them and their daughter Ashley.  
  
Seven years ago they were still Mom and Dad, until I went to that Summer Camp, just turned ten and eager to prove that I could live without them, only to discover afterwards I had been replaced. They had made one of their mixed business-holiday trips to Asia and adopted a little girl there. Her parents had died in a fire, they tried to explain. Maybe Flo and Bob had just escaped the same fire and felt they had to pay back a debt by taking her in, but that didn't explain why they forgot me.  
  
To be fair, Bob didn't immediately forget me, he tried to split his attention between me and Ashley and took me to Wrestling fights and other cool stuff. I could live with that, but that ended two years later when my friends dared me to steal the new 3-d-flash-o-matic from Kelso's and I got caught. Then he joined in Flo's complains how they couldn't understand me and why I was doing this to them. One strike, and you're out.  
  
Of course I spent more time with my friends. Especially with those Flo and Bob didn't like. That was wrong, but I don't regret hurting them. I regret stealing from Mr Kelso, striking down Professor Kent - that got me into Juvenile Hall - and especially hurting Rosa who saw me doing it. She was my first and still only true love and hated me for my violent side ever after. But Flo and Bob just plain deserved what they got.  
  
I get back to checking if I've got all my stuff with me, and suddenly he stands there. Bob has come alone.  
  
"Hi Joey", he starts, stretching out his hand.  
  
I'm shaking it. "Hi Dad. Where's everybody?"  
  
"Your Mom's at home and Ashley's probably playing kickball with her friends. I just thought we could have a short talk among men."  
  
That's just great, only a few years late... "Okay!"  
  
"We've been talking with people in Juvenile Hall and they said you were doing absolutely fine and that you're now a first class auto mechanic. We're proud of you. Professor Kent was also impressed."  
  
So he helped getting me out after three years. I expected much more - I was accused for 'attempted homicide to cover a car theft'.  
  
"What I want to say, son... your old debts are all settled, and you've got a new bright future in front of you. Just... don't fall back into old mistakes."  
  
That had to come. I better change the topic. "Whose idea was Boot Camp?"  
  
No answer. "Why do you ask?"  
  
They couldn't break me. "It's just silly. If I had no discipline, I wouldn't have avoided the pushers in Juvenile Hall for three years."  
  
"Oh!"  
  
We put my stuff in the trunk and drive off. When he starts again, it's regular news about what had changed while I was gone. When we're almost home - I mean there - he remembers something.  
  
"You should ask Ashley what you can call her. The other Ashleys in school seem to be airheads."  
  
So Flo's 'popular name' plan backfired. "What do her friends call her then?"  
  
"As far as I can tell, just Spin or Spinelli."  
  
As if she was. "I'll ask her."  
  
The welcome from Flo was cold. She just showed me my room and left. I start putting my stuff into the closet when I hear a rumbling from downstairs coming closer, then the door bursts open.  
  
"Joey." It's Ashley, completely out of breath, and I don't know if I'm more surprised about her happy expression or that she still wears jacket, cap and shoes from the 'tough makeover' I gave her years ago. Her smile is getting wider, and she opens her arms to give me the best bearhug an 8-year- old girl can manage. "Oh Joey Joey Joey you're home!"  
  
Outside the door, Flo and Bob exchange alarmed looks. That wasn't going according to plan. 


	2. The game

Disclaimers: see chapter 1  
  
II. The game  
  
(Spin:) Mom and Dad didn't tell me, but I overheard enough to know Joey was coming home today. So I hid just around the street corner to make them think I was out of the way, and ran home when they were coming back. I hope my welcome made up for their coldness - whatever they do, I want him to stay. So we can finally set some things right in this house.  
  
He keeps holding me while I regain my breath. "Hi sister", he slowly replied, "one could almost think you haven't seen me for three years." Silly Joey. He puts me back on the ground. "Dad says you're now playing a lot of kickball with your friends. I bet you're the star of the team."  
  
"I'm number two. Vince is the best. Nobody can beat him in anything."  
  
"And T.J.'s still around, too?"  
  
"Yeah, him and Vince and Gretchen and Mikey... my old kindergarten gang, you know."  
  
Joey falls silent as Mom puts her hand on my shoulder. "Pookie, your big brother is barely home. Why don't you look for some photos of your friends while he's moving in?"  
  
"Okay Mom. See ya, Joey" Photos. If Mom knew what I know she wouldn't ask me that.  
  
Back in my room I grab my private photo album and look for the best pictures. Then again, all of them are new to him, and we've grown quite a bit while he was gone. None of the photos was actually made by Mom and Dad - if T.J. and the guys ever met them my reputation would be ruined forever.  
  
As Joey got all his stuff stowed away I pull him outside to the Detweilers' house. "You've got to meet T.J. He's playing the best pranks on Miss Finster."  
  
"She's still around? Still in charge of recess?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"She's got some stamina; I thought it drove her mad long ago." He pauses. "Maybe it's better if I don't meet T.J."  
  
Does he think my friends won't accept him? They're not like Mom and Dad. Especially T.J. Thank God, he's already waiting. "Hi Teej, look who's here."  
  
"Hi Spin, and hi Joey, welcome back among the living."  
  
"Hi T.J." Joey seems to study him. Of course - the last time they met we were kindergartners. "Sister's been telling me you're in my old position of master prankster now. I hope you're more careful than I was back then, or you'd get in trouble with more than just Miss Finster."  
  
"Things are going fine, thanks - and Gretchen's checking my plans. She can outsmart teachers." T.J. looks Joey straight in the eye, "you're back in High School now?"  
  
"No, I've got training as an auto mechanic. They say I'm good, so I'll look for a job now. Maybe I'll go to night school when I've got time left. How are you doing in school?"  
  
Wait. Are they fighting? But they don't seem to be angry.  
  
"Umm... I have to be... creative at times. But I'm good in that." T.J. pauses. "When you were master prankster of Third Street School, what was it like?"  
  
"In the beginning it was fun. But late in fifth grade we tried to do better than King Dude, and failed miserably. When the whole grade was punished for our pranks, they turned from us. And we started picking on other kids. In sixth grade it got so bad King Max III came up with a plan to split our group. Three of us seven left, I stayed." Joey snarls. "Your turn: what happens, or would happen if you picked on other kids?"  
  
"We don't pick on other kids, except Randall, and he's Miss Finster's snitch. And maybe the Ashleys, when they behave as if they owned the playground just because they're rich."  
  
"So you, T.J., do pick on little girls?"  
  
I push them apart. "Stop it, you two. I really thought you could talk like civilized people." God, I sound like Mikey now.  
  
T.J. flashes a smile at me, as if everything was under control. "We're just talking."  
  
I turn to Joey: "They aren't little girls, they're a gang of snobs bothering everyone."  
  
"It's OK. I just want to know from your friend what would happen if he picked on other kids."  
  
T.J. ponders. "They'd try to talk me out of it. If that didn't work, Mikey would lament my lost sense of justice, Gretchen would present me a list of bad consequences, Vince would consult the king... and your sister would probably beat me up."  
  
Joey clenches his fists. "Watch your tongue, you little..."  
  
I step between them again. "I would, if I had to... but I don't." Joey slowly relaxes again.  
  
T.J. still hasn't enough. "How do you react to the rumours?"  
  
"What do they say?"  
  
"That you almos... ungh"  
  
I hit him in the stomach. That he had the nerve to suggest anything like that. "How dare you? I told you it was an accident!"  
  
"It's not that easy," Joey said calmly. I just stare as he tells us more: "I was breaking up that car - I thought it was easy, I'd just get in, drive around a little, then leave it in a side street before the cops start looking for it. Then the owner came back, a college professor of literature or so. Today I think he wanted to talk me out of it instead of calling the cops, since I was only fourteen back then. But I thought he tried to stop me from getting away, so I grabbed him and pushed him into some trash bins. As he fell, his head crashed into the wall. It almost broke his skull. And it was all my fault."  
  
I feel like I'm frozen in place. T.J. gulps. Then I try: "But... you didn't want to do that."  
  
"Of course not. But I did it. Fortunately he survived and recovered completely. I probably wouldn't be here now if he didn't want to give me a second chance. Well... he's alive and well, I'm free again, happy ending... You two wanted to play kickball before I came. I think I want to be alone for a while." He turns and walks back to our house. I just stare after him.  
  
"I don't know if I could live with that", T.J. spoke up.  
  
"Yeah. But you shouldn't have challenged him like that. I really thought you wanted to get yourself beaten up."  
  
"No, he planned that all along. His story in exchange for mine. He only got angry when I told him you'd beat me."  
  
"Oh... sorry about that. I thought you'd look down on him, just like Mom and Dad."  
  
"Tender, Spin, you were just worried... just like he was worried if you were in the right hands."  
  
I'm what? Dangit, was my head leaning on his shoulder the whole time? "Oh!" Next thing he starts treating me like a girl. I break free. "I see. Now let's go get Vince." As we're on our way, I realize I've got one more question. "T.J.? How did you know that he planned it?"  
  
"It's how he asked me. It was like a teenager game, Truth or Dare. I saw Becky play it with her friends, and they're quite open when they play."  
  
"So this was truth... What do they dare?"  
  
"I don't know - by then she had locked me into my closet."  
  
Imagining T.J. sneaking up on Becky's teenie games cheers me up a bit. Good old T.J., he always seems to know how to do that. 


	3. Steps on the bridge

Disclaimers: see chapter 1  
  
III. Steps on the bridge  
  
(Joey:) What happened? One moment Ashley is nice and caring, the next she hits even her closest friends. Maybe she tries to copy me, but that way leads to disaster, and she's going there fast. If I'm the reason for her violence, I have to stop her again.  
  
Who else could it be? Not T.J., that's for sure. He's friendly and calm, unlike her... and unlike the kindergarten terror he had been when I last saw him. She admires him, maybe she's even got a crush... but still hits him. The rest of her gang? Unlikely, the way T.J. described them. Mom and Dad? No, I don't think Flo and Bob would beat her or treat her cruel in other ways - they maybe fail in raising her, but hurt her? Never. I'll have to ask her later. For now, I suspect a teacher. Maybe Miss Finster got worse, but she used to like us Spinellis.  
  
So, where do I go now? I can't visit friends - one group of them got me in trouble, the other got in trouble because of me, and after I attacked Kent both groups turned away from me. Now Professor Kent seems to be the only person besides Ashley who believes in me. Visiting him might cause trouble, so I'll better write him a letter to thank him and show him how I progressed from a violent youth with no future to a trained mechanic.  
  
I'm in the middle of writing when someone knocks on my door. "What's up?"  
  
Bob comes in. "I just wanted to see how you're doing." And what, probably.  
  
"Writing a letter. To Professor Kent."  
  
"Can I see it?"  
  
"If you must." I give him the letter.  
  
He glances over the handwritten lines. "Impressive. You seem to feel only positive about him."  
  
"Sure. I got myself in, he got me out. So I'll thank him."  
  
Bob falls silent and just nods.  
  
"If you think it's OK, I want to finish it now."  
  
He hands me the letter, turns to leave, then turns back. "Joey... I'm sorry."  
  
"It's OK, it wasn't my journal, and you asked me."  
  
"No, I mean, I'm sorry I didn't talk to you more. All of this didn't have to happen."  
  
Maybe he really means it. "Dad... you can't change the past. But we can make the future better, if we try." I try to smile.  
  
Dad also half smiles. "I will try." And then, he leaves.  
  
I complete the letter, stick a stamp on the envelope, and put it in the next mailbox.  
  
When Ashley returns in the late afternoon, I decide to find out why she is so aggressive. If it's because of me, maybe I can change her back. "Can we talk?"  
  
She reaches for the handle of her bedroom door. "You mean about your little game with T.J.?"  
  
"No, about you and your quick fists. I fear that's my fault. You see, back then I thought it was cool to teach you how to be tough, but you know where I ended up."  
  
She has opened her door, but doesn't enter. "It's not your fault. And I don't want to attack anyone. I just want to play with T.J. and the guys, if only people would leave me alone."  
  
"You mean older kids attack you?"  
  
She turns away into her room. "You wouldn't understand."  
  
Oh my god! And she's just eight. "Ashley, wait! I will understand, just talk to me, so we can get that bastard in jail."  
  
She looks back through the door, confused. "You're not talking about T.J.?"  
  
"Of course not. I meant someone who preys on little girls."  
  
"You mean a pervert - no, nothing like that. It's... they're making fun of me."  
  
"The Ashleys?"  
  
"Everyone. Show one weakness, and you're laughingstock."  
  
"Sounds familiar... have you tried to do something against it?" She makes a fist. "No, I mean something else."  
  
"Nothing else worked. You see, at beginning of third grade Mom had me wear a pink dress in school. T.J. told me to calm down, so I just put on my old clothes the next day, but they were still laughing. The guys tried to get them quiet their way, but in the end I had to go and whack them one. That worked."  
  
"You beat up the whole school?"  
  
"No, just the kids who started it. But it took months before they stopped talking about that damn dress."  
  
"How did Mom get that idea anyway?"  
  
"She's trying to turn me into a girl."  
  
Now I am confused. "And you are...?"  
  
"You know, dolls, dresses, nail polish and the like."  
  
"Maybe she should see that the real you is doing fine, too."  
  
"How?"  
  
"Make a deal... say, stop wearing that jacket, and ask for something you really like."  
  
"That would be wrestling... nah, wouldn't work."  
  
"Wrestling with T.J.?" A weird way to express her crush, but if it helps...  
  
"No, silly, watching it on TV. Dad does it, but whenever I come in, he switches over to 'Wonderful Family' or stuff like that."  
  
"Try again today - I've had a talk with Dad, and he seems to be in the right mood. Oh, and one more thing."  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"In school, have you tried the Robin Hood method? I mean, you're strong and tough, you could fight the bad and protect the weak. And you've got your gang of merry men."  
  
"Know what, Joey? Your ideas are weird, but they might just work."  
  
When Mom calls us for dinner, Ashley surprises everyone. Instead of her old blue jeans, she wears a red dress and slippers and even took off her cap. "Hi Mom, Dad, Joey. Like my outfit? I thought it was time for a fresh new start."  
  
"That's wonderful, Pookie", Mom replies, "I knew you would like dresses eventually."  
  
"It's nice - but don't throw away my jeans now, I still need them."  
  
"I won't. Now let's have some Spaghetti with our special Spinelli recipe."  
  
I keep waiting for her question. When we finish dinner, Ashley speaks up again: "Dad, wouldn't you like to watch wrestling with me now?"  
  
He looks over the table to Mom: "What do you think, dear?"  
  
She doesn't like the idea, but apparently decides to argue reasonably: "Ashley... I don't like wrestling, and I think it's too violent for a girl like you."  
  
"Mom, it's just sports. They want to fight. I've seen worse things than that."  
  
"Then you shouldn't have seen those things in the first place."  
  
"Mom, I meant I've seen worse things in school. Do you want me to leave school now?"  
  
Mom gives up. "Okay, if you want it so much you can watch it with your dad. But if it gets too brute, he'll turn it off. Is that OK?"  
  
It is. While Ashley and Dad are watching TV, I'm helping Mom clearing up after dinner.  
  
"She's happy now. That was your idea, wasn't it?" Mom's voice is much warmer now than in the morning.  
  
"Most of it was her idea, I just told her to try it out."  
  
"But how did you do it? She doesn't talk with us much, much less follow our advice."  
  
"She told me how you let her wear a pink dress in school, and everyone laughed. Maybe she didn't trust your sense of good taste anymore."  
  
"I thought the dress would help her to fit in better - I don't know what went wrong."  
  
"Maybe it would've worked for another girl... but Ashley and a", I shudder, "pink dress just don't fit together."  
  
"She's so different sometimes."  
  
"Of course she is. She'll never be average." 


End file.
